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From YouTube: Moments with Melinda: Interview with Tanya Lee Stone
Description
From Melinda Moulton:
Known for telling little-known true stories of extraordinary people who have shaped our world, Tanya Lee Stone has threaded themes of female empowerment throughout her body of work for nearly 20 years, writing narrative nonfiction as gripping as fiction. Stone is the author of the Sibert Medal winning Almost Astronauts, NAACP Image Award winning Courage Has No Color, and Golden Kite Award winning The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie. Other works include Girl Rising, Elizabeth Leads the Way, Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?, The House that Jane Built, Sandy’s Circus, and Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How Monopoly Was Invented. Her work has been recognized by the Bank Street Flora Straus Steiglitz Award, Jane Addams Honor, YALSA Nonfiction Finalist, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, NPR Best Books, and NCTE Orbis Pictus Honors. Stone also writes poetry and fiction and is the author of A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl, which is #42 on ALA’s Top 100 Banned Books of the Decade.
Before becoming a writer, Stone studied English at Oberlin College, earned a Masters Degree in Science Education, and was an editor of children’s nonfiction books for many years. She is the Program Director of the Professional Writing Program at Champlain College, in Burlington, Vermont.
For more information visit: www.tanyastone.com
11/2/2022
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A
A
Me
I'm
so
glad
you
joined
me
on
this
Wednesday
morning.
Let
me
tell
my
viewers
a
little
bit
about
you.
Okay,
Tanya,
Lee
Stone
is
an
American
author
of
children's
and
young
adult
books.
She
writes
narrative
non-fiction
for
middle
grade
students
and
young
adults
as
well
as
non-fiction
picture
books.
Her
stories,
often
Center
on
women
and
people
of
color.
She
has
won
numerous
Awards,
including
the
NAACP
image
award,
the
Robert
F
Siebert
medal
and
the
gold
kite
award.
A
Tanya
is
assistant
director
and
program
director
for
professional
writing
at
Champlain
College
in
Burlington
Vermont,
and
she
just
earned
her
PhD
woohoo
girlfriend
amazing
thanks
a
lot
huge,
huge.
Well,
listen!
Let's
just
start
right
at
the
beginning,
Tanya
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
your
childhood
and
share
with
my
viewers
who
had
the
greatest
influence
on
your
life
and
your
work.
B
B
I
read
all
the
time
see
these
glasses
I'm,
the
only
one
in
my
family
that
has
bad
eyesight.
Now
they
all
blame
that
on
my
reading
under
the
covers
of
the
flashlight
eye,
doctors
have
told
me
that
that's
not
the
reason,
but
that's
the
myth
in
my
family,
but
I
made
my
eyes
go
bad
by
all
the
reading.
I
did
so
reading
was
a
huge
part
of
my
life.
I
I
would
disappear
into
books.
I
was
kind
of
half
Bookworm.
B
Half
tomboy
grew
up
on
Long
Island
Sound
right
on
the
water
in
a
neighborhood
where,
mostly
it
was
summer
people.
So
when
there
weren't
people
around
when
it
wasn't
summer,
my
friend
and
I
who
lived
up
the
street,
we
were
playing
on
the
beach
or
climbing
trees
or
reading
books
and
and
playing
music
and
listening
to
music.
B
B
Very
very
fluid
Oberlin
is
was,
is
and
I
was
an
English
major
there
and
then
I
went
into
publishing.
I
started
my
career
as
an
editor
in
publishing,
right
out
of
college
and
sort
of
in
the
interim,
while
I
was
working,
got
my
Master's
in
in
Science
Education
loved
being
an
editor
so
much.
My
last
job
was
managing
editor
of
a
small
children's
non-fiction
press,
and
so
I
learned
how
to
do
so.
Many
things
in
that
job
that
I
still
do
every
day
in
my
own
writing.
B
B
A
Well,
we're
really
glad
that
you
did
we're
thrilled
that
you're
here,
I'm
thrilled
to
be
here
so
Tanya.
You
have
written
more
than
a
hundred
books
for
children
and
young
adults
andrin,
and
your
articles
essays
and
reviews
have
appeared
in
the
New,
York
Times
and
other
notable
journals,
magazines
and
newspapers.
You
are
a
prolific
writer.
Where
do
you
get
your
inspiration
and
your
passion.
B
It's
a
good
question:
I
mean
you
know:
I'm
a
full-time
academic
now
and
I'm,
always
telling
my
writing
students.
You
know
that
inspiration
is
every
everywhere.
It
sounds
so
cliche,
but
it's
really
true.
You
know
you
overhear
somebody
talking
about
something
in
a
cafe
or
you
walk
past
a
playground
and
you
you
hear
people
in
conversation
or
in
conflict
and
and
it
Sparks
things
in
your
own
mind
about
what
you're
thinking
about
and
and
wondering
about
or
worrying
about.
A
A
B
So
I
have
to
give
credit
for
that
tagline
to
an
illustrator
friend
of
mine,
Janie
Bynum,
who
made
that
logo.
She
was
helping
me
revamp
my
website
a
long
time
ago
and
because
I
do
non-fiction
and
some
fiction
and
picture
books
and
middle
grade
and
young
adult
I
was
sort
of
having
a
trouble
pinpointing.
What
my
theme
for
the
website
should
be,
and
she
immediately
said
like
what
are
you
talking
about
your
books
make
waves?
They
make
people
think
they're
about
empowerment,
they're
about
social
justice,
they're
about
women.
B
A
B
And
that's
the
that's
the
other
thing
right
like
she
said
you
know
what
kind
of
motif
do
you
want
and
I
said
I
don't
know
I
mean
the
beach
to
me
is
where
I
find
my
you
know.
Water
is
where
I
find
my
happy
place,
where
I
can
calm
myself
and
listen
to
the
waves,
and
so
it
sort
of
all
came
together
like
that.
A
It's
a
beautiful
website.
Tanyastone.Com
I
encourage
my
viewers
to
visit
Tanya
Lee
Stone's
website.
It's
worth
the
visit.
So
now,
let's
talk
a
little
bit
about
something
a
little
bit
more
serious
your
book,
a
bad
boy
can
be
good
for
a
girl
and
by
the
way,
I
married,
a
bad
boy
and
I
think
he
was
terrific
for
me
doing
that
with
you.
A
You
know,
you
know
my
husband,
but
your
book,
a
bad
boy
can
be
good
for
a
girl
was
banned
between
2010
and
2019
and
it
was
the
44th
most
banned
and
challenged
book
in
the
United
States
now
in
our
world
today
we're
seeing
a
lot
of
the
great
Classics
and
a
lot
of
films
being
banned
across
the
country.
Can
you
explain
how
this
how
this
felt
for
you
and
what
it
was
like,
and
perhaps
maybe
read
a
few
passages
from
the
book
and
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
it?
A
B
I
mean
sadly
book
Banning
isn't
new
right
book.
Banning
goes
way
way
back
and
if
you,
if
you
start
to
think
about
it
in
context,
you
can
picture
the
images
in
Germany
and
all
around
the
world
with
materials
that
that
incite
people
being
destroyed.
So
it's
not
a
new
thing.
It's
a
fairly
consistent
thing
and
now,
of
course
it
is
just
terribly
skyrocketed.
B
But
I'll
start
from
the
beginning
of
that
question.
When
I
first
started
getting
the
hate
mail,
that
comes,
you
know
getting
banned,
isn't
like
a
one-time
thing,
I'm
making.
That
list
is
based
on
data.
That's
a
decade-long
list.
It's
based
on
data
that
the
American
Library
Association
gathers
and
collects,
and
with
any
data
like
this,
you
know
it's
the
tip
of
the
iceberg,
because
you
know
that
a
lot
of
things
are
unreported.
B
So
let's
just
say
that
there
are
a
lot
of
books
that
are
being
banned.
That
are
not
on
any
lists
and
we
just
don't
know
about
it,
because
it's
quiet
censorship.
So
that's
a
whole.
That's
that's
a
whole
other
aspect
of
this
General
problem,
but
I
read
for
kids
in
teens
and
I
care
about
my
readers
and
I,
crafted
this
book
really
intentionally
and
really
carefully
to
be
kind
of
a
cautionary
tale
and
kind
of
a
universal
theme
of
three
different
girls.
The
the
basis.
B
The
basis
of
this
book
is
three
different
girls
who
all
fall
prey
in
different
degrees
and
in
different
ways
to
the
same
jerky,
unnamed,
High,
School,
guy
who's,
stereotypical
on
purpose,
to
sort
of
just
to
show
the
universality
of
no
matter
whether
a
young
woman
is
extremely
confident
or
insecure
or
battling
different
issues
or
not
at
one
point
or
another.
Most
women
are
in
are
in
a
compromising
position
with
a
male
trying
to
take
advantage
of
them.
B
That's
sort
of
the
basis
of
the
book,
and
also
it
was
really
important
to
me
that
I
dealt
with
this
while
the
girls,
if
they
chose
to
as
their
characters,
enjoyed
a
healthy
sexual
relationship
with
somebody
without
shame
and
without
dire
consequences
like
pregnancy
or
disease
or
anything
else.
So
those
were
my
driving
factors
in
writing
that
book.
So
it's
three
very
different
girls
and
the
hate
mail
started
coming
in
I
still
get
it
occasionally,
and
that
book
is
old.
It
came
out
in
2006,
I,
think
so.
B
Angry
Gatekeepers,
so
I
have
gotten
a
lot
of
that
angry
hate
mail,
stuff
around
the
time
that
that
book
came
out
and
then
trickles
on
and
at
first
it
gave
me
a
pit
in
my
stomach,
like
someone's,
accusing
somebody
actually
accused
me
of
being
a
smut
Peddler
and
harming
kids,
and
so
that
made
me
like
sick
to
my
stomach,
because
that
is
the
opposite
of
anything.
I
would
ever
do,
and
so
I
talked
to
two
different
people
in
the
industry.
About
this
who
I,
who
I
know?
B
B
A
B
So,
like
I
said,
there
are
three
girls
in
this.
The
middle
girl
Nicolette
is
the
one
I
still
think
about,
and
so
I'll
just
read
from
her.
This
is
a
novel
in
verse,
so
these
are
poems
Nicolette
power
play.
It
didn't
take
a
genius
to
see
it
all.
The
girls
at
my
school
were
always
waiting
waiting
for
some
guy
to
call
waiting
for
some
guy
to
say
she
was
pretty
or
nice
or
smart
waiting
for
some
guy
to
make
the
first
move
uh-uh
not
me.
Why
should
I
sit
around
and
wait?
B
A
But
yeah,
but
at
the
end
of
the
day,
I
have
three
granddaughters
who
are
teenagers
and
I'm
and
I,
and
there
are
moments
when
I
am
so
proud
of
them
because
they
think
that
way
and
I-
and
maybe
that's
what's
happened
with
this
generation-
is
they've
as
we've
gotten
more
evolved
as
women.
But
let's
move
on.
Thank
you
for
that.
Your
books,
almost
astronauts
courage,
has
no
color
who
says
women
can't
be
doctors.
A
B
Think
that
I
think
that
my
books
are
really
accessible,
I
think
a
lot
of
times
when
people
think
non-fiction,
they
think
dry
and
I
write
I,
don't
even
like
the
term
non-fiction
I
write,
true
stories,
because
the
word
story
there
is
is
what
it's
all
about,
and
so
I
never
approach.
My
my
true
stories
from
any
kind
of
dry
point
of
view
or
angle,
I'm,
never
really
trying
to
do
birth
to
death
and
make
like
grandiose
statements
I'm.
Looking
at
the
people,
history
is
just
people
doing
amazing
things
that
help
shape
our
world.
B
That's
all
it
is,
and
so
I'm
looking
at
the
people
and
I'm
immersing
myself
in
the
research,
so
that
I
can
write
about
them
from
a
place
of
somewhat
expert,
in
quote
so
that
I
can
excite
the
readers
about
who
this
person
is,
to
the
extent
that
maybe
they're
going
to
go
off
and
learn
something
else
about
them.
Go
look
up
something
else
about
them.
Read
another
book
watch
a
documentary
watch
a
film
historical
fiction
based
on
them,
so
I'm
always
trying
to
find.
A
She
inspired
my
life
I
I,
think
of
her
all
the
time
and
that
story
of
her
giving
up
her
life
for
her
for
her
work
in
science,
and
she
was
inspirational
for
me
and
I'm
sure
that
that's
cool
was
probably
not
as
as
fun
to
read
as
as
your
books,
which
are
beautifully
Illustrated,
but
you
have
also
written
many
biographies
Diana
princess
of
people,
Rosie,
O'donnell,
America's,
favorite,
grown-up
kid
Oprah
Winfrey
success
with
an
open
heart
and
recently
who
says
women
can't
be
computer.
Programmers
your
work
empowers
girls
and
young
women
share
with
us.
B
B
A
B
Well,
how
does
early
marriage
impact
education,
and
where
is
this
lack
of
access
to
education
happening?
And
you
know
what
is
what
is
the
what
is
going
on
here
when
slavery
is
illegal
everywhere
on
Earth
and
exists
everywhere
on
Earth,
right
and
so
I
I
cold,
called
girl
rising
and
quickly
found
myself
on
the
phone
with
with
Casey
free
Jennings,
who
was
the
executive
producer
and
we
were
finishing
each
other's
sentences
and
and
we
were
in
contract
together
and
that
was
it
fabulous.
A
I
missed
my
way
back,
but
you
know
this
is
all
stuff.
That's
out
there
about.
You,
I
mean
you
are
you're
again
to
my
viewers,
visit
Tanya,
Stone
t-a-n-y-a-s-t-o-n-e.com
and
go
to
Tanya's
website.
It
is
really
a
beautifully
done
website
and
it
covers
your
your
career,
your
writing
career.
You
are
a
Powerhouse
of
creativity,
Talent
vision
and
activism,
and
you
are
a
writer
who
opens
minds
and
provides
truth
and
facts
to
educate
and
inspire.
A
And
would
you
consider
yourself
in
through
your
work,
to
be
an
activist
and
and
by
the
way,
I
I
want
my
viewers
to
know
that
your
books
are
beautifully
Illustrated
there,
it's
not
and
and
I
and
I,
don't
know
if
you
have
an
example
that
we're
gonna
well,
why
don't
we
do
that?
Let's,
let's
let's
focus
on
your
recent
book.
Peace
is
a
chain
reaction
and
you've
got
it
right
behind
you.
Maybe
you
could
show
folks
a
little
bit
about
how
your
books
are
Illustrated,
because
they're
so
beautiful.
B
So
my
picture
books
are
illustrated
by
illustrators,
so
that's
a
whole
different
thing
right
like
show
it
show.
So
like
here's
who
says
women
can't
be
doctors,
that's
a
picture
book
for
young
readers,
and
that
is
illustrated
by
the
two-time
call,
the
top
award-winning
Marjorie
priceman,
and
so
like
any
true
picture
book,
I
love
it
it's
Illustrated
and
but
in
my
long-form
non-fiction
I
actually
do
something.
That's
fairly
unusual
and
part
of
it
is
because
of
my
editorial
background
that
I'm
kind
of
allowed
to
do
this.
B
I
curate,
every
single,
visual
image
or
artifact.
That's
in
my
books
and
I
choose
them
all
and
I
work
with
the
designer
to
say
exactly
what
picture
goes
with
what
text
and
I
write
the
captions?
So
it's
a
really
collaborative
team
effort
when
I
do
my
long-form
books,
so
here's
here's
a
spread.
The
designer
comes
up
with
cool
things
like
you
can
see
that
in
the
background
there's
a
photograph,
that's
it's
it's
taking
up
the
whole
full
bleed
as
a
sort
of
blurry
background.
That's
an
example
of
a
designer
Choice!
B
That's
beautiful!
That's
a
recurring
theme
throughout
when
she
could
do
it,
and
then
you
see
that
there
are
different
images
on
this
page,
all
of
which
I've
chosen
and
found
through.
My
research
shows
the
cover
cover
yeah,
so
the
cover
again,
the
designer
did
an
amazing
job
and
what
she
did
was
she
took
a
photograph
that
I
had
found
of
that
balloon
floating
over
the
ocean,
and
she
took
this
diagram
that
I
had
gotten
permission
to
use
from
a
balloon
bomb
expert
and
she
designed
this
gorgeous
cover.
B
B
B
B
But
really
the
book
is
about
a
Japanese-American
man
named
yazura
takeshita,
who
was
interned
at
Thule
Lake
as
a
teenager
with
the
rest
of
his
family
not
far,
maybe
50
miles
from
where
that
happened
in
Bly
Oregon
and
as
a
kid
he
had
heard
about
the
Japanese
balloon
bombs,
but
nobody
ever
knew
if
they
were
real
or
not
because
it
was
classified
and
it
was
sort
of
mum's
the
word
in
order
to
keep
Japan
from
finding
out
that
they
had
actually
landed.
So
he
spent
his
life.
B
What
we're
wondering
about
that,
and
as
an
adult
he
went
to
Japan
on
a
business
trip,
went
to
visit.
Some
friends
and
the
wife
of
one
of
his
friends
was
one
of
the
thousands
of
Japanese
schoolgirls
who
had
been
constricted
in
their
Imperial
Army
to
make
the
balloons
and
she
started
telling
him
all
about
it.
And
this
was
a
revelation
for
him.
He
thought.
Oh,
my
goodness.
B
This
story
is
real
and
she's
and
she
knew
about
the
deaths
and
she
said
you
know,
go
to
your
Smithsonian
institution
in
Washington
DC,
and
so
he
did.
He
researched
it
all
and
he
asked
the
women
in
Japan
who
were
telling
their
story
now,
because
you
know
it
had
been
decades
since
the
war
and
they
wanted
to
tell
their
story.
B
That
still
goes
on
to
this
day,
their
annual
memorials
in
Oregon,
and
there
have
been
trips
back
and
forth
between
Japan
and
Oregon,
between
these
families
and
and
these
Japanese
women
and
their
families,
and
so
to
me
the
takeaway
was
we
are
all
in
in
This.
Together
people
are
people.
If
we
decide
to
care
about
each
other,
then
we
care
about
each
other,
and
the
legacy
of
usura
takashta
who
has
since
passed
is
in
this
book
outstanding.
A
A
Well,
my
next
question
was
what
words
of
wisdom
do
you
have
for
girls
today
who
are
facing
a
country
that
is
battling
against
their
personal
privacy
and
reproductive
health
and
choice?
How
can
they
make
a
difference?
Because
you
are
making
a
difference
and
you
have
made
a
difference
in
your
career?
How
can
these
girls
today
make
a
difference?
Well,
you.
B
Don't
hold
back
Melinda,
that
is
a
really
important
question
and
and
I
can't
even
begin
to
presume
to
know.
The
answer
to
that
all
I
will
say
is
that
every
single
person
makes
a
difference
and
whatever
any
single,
male
or
female
or
non-binary
person
is
comfortable,
doing
to
speak
out
and
stand
up
and
educate
and,
and
it
can
be
quiet
or
or
passive
through
writing
or
it
can
be
loud
and
active
through
protesting
it.
A
B
B
Now,
if
you
don't
know
who
Rosalind
Franklin
was,
you
might
know
that
James
Watson
and
Francis
Crick
won
a
Nobel
Prize
for
discovering
the
double
helix
structure
of
the
DNA,
which
would
not
have
happened
without
Rosalind
Franklin's
photo
51
and
her
data
that
went
with
it.
So
it's
about
helping
and
once
again
to
put
someone
on
the
record
that
should
never
have
been
left
off.
The
Record
foreign.
A
A
A
Well,
I
figured
I
figured
that
and
and
I
totally
honor
and
respect
that,
so
you
have
been
called
one
of
the
finest
non-fiction
writers
working
today
by
Anita
Sylvie,
and
you
know
what
I
will.
Second,
that
and
I
will
third
and
fourth
that
and
thank
you
and
I
want
to
thank
you
for
being
on
my
show,
Tanya
and
and
I'm
honored,
to
call
you
my
friends
and
to
share
your
life
and
work
with
my
viewers
again
to
my
viewers,
we're
talking
with
Tonya
Lee
Stone.